MCCC Softball to Host Region 19 Playoffs May 3rd-4th

4/30/24

 

Mercer softball will host the Region 19 Playoffs May 3^rd and 4^th.  The Vikings enter the playoffs as the top seed.  Four teams will be competing for the Region Championship title: Delaware Tech CC, Lackawanna, Mercer and Salem CC in the double elimination tournament.

 

Mercer enters as the top seed with a 35-5 overall record.  Salem CC is 30-12, Delaware Tech is 24-8 and Lackawanna is 35-17.

 

Mercer split with Del Tech earlier this season, 8-10 loss and 6-3 win on March 30th.  The Vikings swept Salem in a doubleheader on April 23^rd (10-0 and 8-0) and also swept Lackawanna in a doubleheader on April 6^th (9-7 and 8-0).  

 

Lackawanna split with Del Tech April 15^th (0-8 loss and 12-7 win) and swept Salem CC in an April 23^rd doubleheader (10-8 and 8-2).  Del Tech swept Salem CC in an April 19^th doubleheader (15-6 and 15-3).

 

 

Play begins Friday morning with the #1 seed Vikings taking on #4 seed Salem at 10:00 AM.  The #2 seed Del Tech will face the #3 seed Lackawanna at 12:00 PM.  The winners of Game 1 and Game 2 will play in Game 3 at 2:00 PM Friday and the losers of Game 1 and 2 will play in an elimination game in Game 4 at 4:00 PM on Friday.

 

The loser of Game 3 will face the winner of Game 4 in an elimination game (Game 5) to begin play on Saturday at 10:00 AM.  The winner of Game 3 (from Friday) will face the winner of Game 5 at 12:00 PM in Game 6 of the tournament.  There will be a Game 7 at 2:00 PM on Saturday if necessary.

 

The top two teams from Region 19 will advance to Region 10 for the District Championship.  The winner of the Region will play the #2 seed and the Runner Up will play the top seed in Region 10.  Two winners from the District will advance to the NJCAA Division II National Championship.

 

This spring, there are 16 automatic qualifiers and four at large selections.

 

On the pitching mound, the Vikings have a dangerous three player rotation.  All three of the Vikings pitchers are in the top 20 in the country in ERA with Jessica Adams, 10^th with a 1.47 ERA, Shea Krebs, 13^th with a 1.62 ERA and Izzy Bonacci, 20^th with a 1.92 ERA.  Bonacci is also in the top 50 in strikeouts at 35^th most in the country, with 124 on the season.  Krebs has 15 wins on the season, 20^th best in the nation and Bonacci has 12 wins, also placing her in the top 50 in the country.

 

 

In addition to strong pitching, the Vikings have a loaded offense with all position players batting .314 or higher.  Sophomore utility player Maya Patel (Burlington, NJ/Burlington Township) leads the Vikings with a .577 batting average and freshman infielder Kelci O’Dell (Wrightstown, NJ/Northern Burlington) is not far behind Patel with a .541 batting average.

 

Freshman outfielder Emily Wyzykowski (Westampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) has battled back from injury and is hitting .486 on the season and freshman infielder Ada Kaschl (Brussels, Belgium/European School of Brussells) has had a strong second half of the season and has a .403 batting average.

 

The Vikings have also gotten additional offensive help from freshmen infielder Angelina Guida (Monroe, NJ/Monroe Twp.) who is batting .394 and been one of the Vikings most reliable batters all season and freshman utility player Madison Jobes (Roebling, NJ/Florence Twp. Memorial) who has a .387 batting average on the season.

 

Freshman outfielder Makenna Spak (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert) has had a strong bat late in the season with a .388 average and brings speed both on the base path and in the outfield.  Freshman utility player Natalie Santiago (Ewing, NJ/Ewing HS) has been hitting well for the Vikings late in the season also and has a .324 batting average.

 

The Vikings have also relied on the play of their returning veterans including sophomores Abby Bell (Hightstown, NJ/Hightstown HS) and Cierra Acevedo (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton West), the Vikings primary catcher is batting .362 and infielder Acevedo has a .314 average on the season.

 

Acevedo and Patel each recently got their 100^th career hit.  Patel also collected her 100^th career RBI.

 

The Vikings have an overall team batting average of .419.  Two of Mercer’s players have batting averages in the top 50 in the country.  Freshman Kelci O’Dell is 9^th in the nation with a .543 average and freshman Emily Wyzykowski is 39^th with a .487 average.  O’Dell has 76 hits on the season, eighth best in the country.

 

For the latest on Vikings softball, visit: https://www.mccc.edu/athletics_women_softball.shtml